DUNEDIN

Dunstan Times, Issue 327, 31 July 1868, Page 3

DUNEDIN

(from our own correspondent.) July 37, 1868. The story of Northern disasters to which I referred to in my last, has since been supplemented by the intelligence that the 186 Maori prisoners confined on the Chatham Islands had escaped, and by means of a whaler, which they are said to have seized and reached Poverty Bay, where they are now strongly entrenched, but the strangest part of the performance is, that they are all well armed, and as their guard consisted of but fifteen men, the question very naturally suggests itself; where did such a large quantity of arms come from. To say the least of it, it was decidedly unwise to place B'ich a ten ptation before the eyes of pri. soners, and it will do well, if we have not to pay dearly for what is at present supposed to be another piece of Official blundering. Of the fate of Captain Thomas and his fourteen men, there is as yet no reliable information. The crew of the vessel seized by the rebels state that their skipper was on shore, when the ship was taken possess, ion of, but that whilst getting under weigh - they saw him making signals to them from a hill. Mr. Stafford stated in the Assembly that Her Majesty's Ship, Rosario had been despatched to Poverty Bay; and that the Government Schooner, Rifleman, would proceed to the Chatam Istands. Captain Big"S has left Napier with 300 Natives for the purpose of pursuing the escaped prisoners. The rush to Auckland still continues, although the epidemic has assumed a milder phase. The news from thence is unimportant ; no fresh discoveries are reported, nor has, so far as I can learn any alluvial ground been opened. That some of the reefs are enormously rich, there can be no doubt, but it is equally certain that nothing has yet been struck, which could justify the large addition which has already ; been made^to t the population. The town of Shortland it would appear, j is built on land, the property of a Maori i chief, named Taipari, who declines to.Jsell, but has it laid out, and lets the lots on j building leases, at the same time making j liberal gifts of sites for churches, and for a public Hospital and other useful purposes. He has adopted the habits of an English landed proprietor : is most anxious for the improvement of his property, and has had' erected for himself on a slope commanding a ueautiful prospectj)f th_* sea and town, a j commodious house in the English style. Taipari's income from rents and mining leases is already at the rate of Ad-, 000 per annum. Dull as things admittedly are in the Province, our good City still appears to stand in high favor with speculators, and the paper of its City Council to be regarded as the very " ne plus ultra " of securities by investing capitalists. The Hon. W. J. TClarke better known to Victorians, by the '■ soubriquet " of " Big Clarke " appears to be infected with a mania for " getting on " on everything Otagan, and not contort with making the mouths of the " Old Identities " water, by advertising his hundreds of thousani sto lend, has actually had the temerity to.express his willingness to take up one hundred and twenty Corporation Bonds of £IOO each at 90 ; paying for them at sight : need I say that his offer is about to be acce oted. By the way, is there no little " spec " in your District, where a few odd thousands might be " safely invested " and found useful. During the last month we have been literally deluged with new publications of every class, and of every order of merit. The best, however, made its first appearance this morning, in the shape of a weekly journal called " The Argus " It stands in the same relation to the "Star" that the "Witness " doe/ to the "Times" consistsat present of S pages, to be increased to 1 (3, a"d, whether as a speeinen of literary ability or typography, will bear comparison with anything of the kind ever issued in New Zealand. The necessiay of such a paper has long been felt. Residents in the country espelially have heretofore only had the opportunity of viewing political matters from one stand-point, and the public mind was at all times liable to be biassed by being constantly compelled to depend for information on one journal, which, however conscieneiously conlueted, could not avoid being tinged with the prejudices of party. The introduction of a new Metropolitan weekly must have a tendency to at least mitigate this evil, and if for no other reason, it is to be hoped that it may prove a success. A melancholy case of suicide occurred at the Universal Hotel, Maclaggau-street, yesterday (Sunday) morning. A man name i Thomas Mieching, or, as he is bitter kno.wn, as Mason, hanged himself by athin rope to the bannisters of the stairs. The body was removed to the Hospital, where it awaits an inquest. The unfortunate man ■was a native of Jersey, and between Bixty and seventy years of age. Later intelligence from the north intimates that the rebel prisoners recently escaped from the Chatham Islands were supplied with arms by the Captain of a French Whaler, and thatthe"'Rosario had gone in pursuit of the delinquent